Post by James Addison, Design Education Fellow at Kelvinside Academy in Glasgow U.K.

Greetings from Scotland! New ideas are in the air at Kelvinside Academy in Glasgow, where construction of the new Innovation School is juxtaposed against the school’s historic stone facade from 1878. This term will bring to an exciting conclusion to the first year of NuVu’s inaugural European partnership with Kelvinside Academy.

This year’s theme of “Future Worlds” was explored throughout this past term. In Super-Enabling Devices, 7th-grade students collaborated with residents at Balmanno House, a residential care facility, to design devices that empower users to perform tasks above and beyond their former capability. In Fables Retold: Beyond the Book, students analyzed the structure of favorite fables and re-imagined them through augmented reality.

The theme of “Future Worlds” will continue this term through studios centered on “Future Cities” and “Future Nature.” The term begins with 8th-grade students in Unveiling the Unseen, a studio that will challenge students to design a personal device that transforms their experience of exploring urban space. Later in the term, in Bio-Wearables, 6th-grade students will create body-extensions based on natural phenomenon they discover and research in the nearby Glasgow Botanic Gardens.